Review: The Sun: Living With Our Star at Science Museum for an interactive journey from the past to the future

After having been to the press preview of London’s Science Museum’s new exhibition on Thursday, I was quick to call Daddy T and suggest he take Big Girl to see what I had just experienced.

I had been walking around taking selfies of myself trying on historic sunglasses. I had tried finding out if it was time to take the sheep to the market by reading the time on a sundial. I had tried to protect planet Earth from solar storms, and I had listened to beach music in coconut-shaped speakers. It had been a fun outing for a mum exploring London–but I could imagine that it would be an even more special day out for the two of them.

The Sun: Living With Our Star opened at Science Museum on Saturday 6 October, and the colourful exhibition features a number of interactive displays, which I think makes it ideal for school-aged children.

At the start of the exhibition, visitors can learn about how the sun’s journey has been explained in different cultures throughout the ages and explore historic ways of reading time.

There’s also an interactive display, showing when the sun rises and sets in different locations around the world depending on the time of year, and I was surprised to discover that Rovaniemi in Finland only has 2 hours and 15 minutes of sunlight on 21 December.

In the next section, visitors can explore how the sun has been used in treating illness, as well as the history of sun protection. There’s a small beach installation with beach music and loungers – the perfect spot to relax and be transported back to the summer holidays. I also loved the fun magic photo screen for trying on historic sunglasses, and I could see this exhibit being popular with children.

In the next section, visitors could learn more about space, and there is a game to play to help protect planet Earth from solar storms. Next to it I enjoyed an interactive display on surviving a solar storm where visitors guess what they might need the most to cope.

There was so much to explore that I spent more time than I had expected on walking through the exhibition. The result was that I left feeling The Sun: Living With Our Star was an interesting and educational exhibition for young and old, covering a wide variety of topics relating to the power of the sun.

The Sun: Living With Our Star is open until 6 May

Tags: Attractions, Family day out, London, Museum, Review, Science Museum